Girl group heaven, male idol hell. Is this the situation right now? This is what it seems, if you're just looking at the music charts.

As of 9AM on March 18th, MelOn real time music charts top ranks are taken by Soyou, 2NE1's "Come Back Home," 4MINUTE's "Whatcha Doin' Today," Girls' Generation's "Mr.Mr," Sunmi's "Full Moon," Orange Caramel's "Catallena," and more. Busker Busker's "Cherry Blossom Ending" is ranked 5th, Sung Shi Kyung's "My Love from the Star" OST "Every Moment of You" is 8th, and CNBLUE's new song "Can't Stop" is in 10th place. It looks as if male idols are struggling to stay alive among the numerous girl groups.

The best girl groups Girls' Generation and 2NE1's simultaneous comebacks overtook Hallyu star TVXQ's 10 year anniversary comeback. Popular boy band CNBLUE's new song is showing a response that is more lukewarm than usual. In both hit songs and issues, boy groups are having a  hard time keeping up.

It seems as in online music sources are led by girl groups, and album sales are taken by boy groups. Last year's highest ranking online music sources were EXO's "Growl." Conversely, Girls' Generation is the only girl group to rank in the top 5 for album sales. Although this kind of syndrome isn't new, it seems as if the distance between male and female groups is growing larger and larger.

One popular girl group agency rep stated, "In the case of girl groups, the number of 10,000 fans is considered quite large. It's hard to market fandoms, and that's why we have to make a hit song in Korea. That's the only way we can get broadcast TV time, and the secret to increasing revenue." On the other hand, male group fandoms are much more obsessed. One popular boy group rep stated, "Even though boy groups might have the same number of fans as girl groups, their loyalty is very different. Boy group fandoms are more likely to buy CDs, attend concerts, and visit each and every event. If a group has a secure fandom, then producing popular songs is a secondary issue. More than creating songs that the public will love, they're more concerned about making music that will instill fantasy in the fans' hearts."